Izzy Gimm - Website and Social Media Manager
The Fighting Scots volleyball team lost in three sets at Illinois College (IC) on Friday night during their final away match of their regular season. The first set ended with a score of 25-15, followed by a tougher-fought second set with a 25-21 score, and a final set scoring 25-8. The first set went back and forth between the two teams with Monmouth's first two scores coming from kills by senior Amanda Dybal (Apex, NC). Savannah Robinson (Delavan, IL) helped the Scots gain a 4-2 lead with two straight aces. However, IC won five straight points before extending their lead to 10-6. The rest of the set was a difficult fight, but the Scots were outscored for the rest of the set. Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, IL) got a kill but the set ended with IC winning 25-15.
The Scots started the second set strong with a point on an IC error while leading 2-1. It was still a two-point lead for IC at 11-9 before they went on two runs and pushed their lead to 17-9 and 20-13. Nizzia and Layne Wright (Davenport, IA) had kills and Wright added an ace as the Scots closed the gap. A kill by Dybal made it 23-20 but the teams traded points from there with IC taking the set 25-21. The third set, however, was all IC. Wright and Dybal got kills for the Scots, but after an injury from Wright, IC won seven of nine points to lead 14-3. IC finished off the final set 25-8. Dybal, Nizzia and Wright all led the Scots with six kills. Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, IL) had 17 assists. This tough loss puts the Scots at 10-12 overall and 4-3 in conference play with only two matches left.